


When We Were Young

by Cupcakemolotov



Series: come alive [21]
Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Caroline leaves MF early, Dark fic, F/M, First Meetings, Gore, Violence, hybrid!Klaus, mentions of past-rape, mentions of torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-15
Updated: 2018-04-15
Packaged: 2019-04-23 09:03:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14329101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cupcakemolotov/pseuds/Cupcakemolotov
Summary: A trip home to check on her mom goes sideways when the Salvatores confront her. But they aren't the only ones hunting the missing Elena.





	When We Were Young

Caroline stayed inside the house for a half-hour after her mom headed for her shift at the station. It's been six months since she'd been home, and the achingly familiar scents were so, so hard to let go of. But she couldn't stay.

Not yet.

The car she'd stolen had been dropped off in miles of backwoods, but Liz knew its location as well as the VIN. It'd get returned. She had a second mode of transportation waiting for her in Richmond, and then it was back to being a ghost.

One last lungful to hold her over, Caroline stepped onto the back porch. She flicked the lock into place just as there was a blur of movement, and rough hands dug into her arm. Caroline twisted, her elbow snapping up. The fight was quick and dirty, and she ground the vampire firmly into the wooden railing, fingers digging into his chest so the scent of blood was heavy between them.

"Damon," Caroline said with a bladed smile. "Not so easy when I'm no longer a human, is it?"

"Where is she?"

"Who?" Caroline asked curiously, tightening her grip when she felt his muscles bunch. "I'd think twice about that, Stefan. You might kill me, but I'll kill Damon. Hate for that to be on your conscious."

Stefan stepped into the moonlight, eyes narrowed. "You're supposed to be dead."

Caroline shrugged. "Turns out, Mom couldn't pull the trigger."

She'd be haunted by it for the rest of her life. Sitting in her living room, sobbing as her Mom held her firearm in a white knuckled grip. Everything had spilled out - the blood bags, Elena, Damon. Her broken pleas to just end it. She was a monster. Caroline would never, ever forget when her mom had sat next to her, so close that their legs and sides had touched.

"You didn't kill the nurse. She's alive." Liz had touched her hair, and Caroline had smelled the fear and determination. "But you can't stay."

Her childhood had ended when she was seventeen, because these two vampires had played their games.

"Where is Elena, Caroline," Stefan questioned as he took a step in her direction.

"I haven't seen Elena since she smothered me with a pillow," Caroline said sharplyas she shoved her fingers deeper, wrapping them around Damon's heart. "I will kill him, Stefan."

Damon gurgled something, and Caroline tightened her grip. She had no use for him. Keeping her eyes on Stefan in warning, her next words were nearly conversational as she continued to squeeze.

"Mom told me you'd come to her, looking for Elena. She's not particularly inclined to help you, after I told her about the compulsion and rape. Oh, why the surprised face, Stefan? Did you imagine it was something I should've been ashamed of? I'm not girly little Caroline anymore."

It had been. It's taken weeks of work to get herself to this point, but she'd made the decision not to break. Being a vampire had given her what she needed to take control of her life, and she wasn't going to give it up again.

"I'm certainly intrigued," an accented voice murmured. "Damon, she's a child and that is quite the grip on your heart, mate. Stefan, I wouldn't."

She flicked her gaze to the side, wary at the new voice. There was a vampire she'd never seen before watching her from the stairs, lips curled into a charming, dimpled smile. He was amazingly good looking, but something about the way he watched her, calculated and ruthless underneath the veneer of charm, told her he was very, very dangerous.

"Hello, sweetheart. You must be Caroline."

"Yes," she said slowly, studying him. "But I don't know who you are."

Instead of being offended by her blunt words, he stepped onto her porch and motioned with that smile to Damon's chest. "Unfortunately, I may still need that one, love. If I promise an excruciating death later, you'd be willing to release him?"

The unease at his cordial tone grew. It was clear from Stefan's white knuckles and stone face that this man did not need to ask for anything. That he was choosing to might not be in her favor, and she'd no intention of making deals with devils.

Shrugging, she pulled her hand free. "If I want him dead, I'll do it myself, but thanks for the offer."

Something hot washed through his gaze like amber, and she was startled when he caught her hand, lips brushing across her bloody knuckles. His eyes never left hers, even as his tongue snaked across his lips. "I'm Klaus, and I never said you couldn't help."

There was something about his tone, the way his name fell like a stone between them, that said she should know who he was and she didn't like that she didn't. Klaus seemed to read her face easily, and instead of chastising her, the soft clucking of his tongue was for Stefan.

"I'm almost disappointed, old friend. Letting the sheriff's daughter be murdered, not advising her on imminent danger. Letting her rush off, without any sort of guidance. Tell me, Caroline, what does your body count look like?"

Caroline was unnerved, by the edge in his tone, the way she was clearly being used as a weapon. Tugging on her hand, she nearly started when he chose to lace their fingers together, cooling blood slick between their fingers and palms. Klaus' hand was strangely warm against her own, and she frowned.

"What kind of vampire are you?"

Those enigmatic eyes swung back to hers, and his smile shifted to approving. "Smart. And I'm what you'd call an Original. Tell me, love, this murderer of yours, you're certain it was the lovely Elena?"

Caroline blinked. "Eavesdropping is rude."

A shrug, and his gaze lingered on her face, before shifting to Damon as he slowly pushed up, the hole in his chest nearly closed. "Hardly eavesdropping. You'll find as you add a few years, that you'll grow stronger, be able to hear further distances. I'm quite a few years older than you. I was merely enjoying a walk and heard voices. I was curious."

She nearly rolled her eyes. She doubted that this Klaus did anything by chance, even if she couldn't figure out why he hadn't released her hand. There were a million questions on her tongue, his age and why he'd bother to care about mere voices, but Caroline swallowed them.

"She wore Elena's face," Caroline said finally, answering his earlier question. "But she sounded… odd."

Klaus' smile shifted into something bladed, and her spine went stiff. His thumb ran across Caroline's knuckles in slick little motions, but his gaze didn't return to her. "Stefan, Stefan, Stefan. You've disappointment me. How long did you help Katerina hide?"

Damon laughed, spitting up a mouthful of blood. "She's locked in the tomb."

Klaus looked intrigued. "Is she? Perhaps I'll send one of you through, to verify. You'll find Katerina is quite clever. It's almost admirable, how she struggles constantly for survival. I do believe, however, that her usefulness has nearly come to an end."

Caroline darted her gaze around and swallowed. The deliberately thoughtful tone of voice as Klaus mentioned murder was hair raising, as was the near resignation on the Salvatore brother's faces. But anger quickly colored the air and Klaus smile held more than an edge of mockery. He was the power here and he knew it.

And he wouldn't let go of her hand.

"Tell me, Caroline, what do you know of Elena?"

"Are you going to kill her?"

Gold eyes met hers, and there was no stopping the way her fangs dropped in reaction. She went to move back, but his free hand caught her chin. She froze, and his gaze lazily drifted along her vampire face. "This time? No. She's far more useful alive."

She tilted her chin and his fingers fell away, but she could still feel him on her skin. "This time?"

Another flicker of intrigue. "I confess, her death was a requirement, a few weeks back. But she was miraculously returned to us and now I'd like to keep her safe."

"Don't listen to him," Stefan said, voice hard. "He's a liar. He wants her blood. He killed Aunt Jenna and Tyler. You cannot trust him."

Caroline didn't trust any of them. She planned on leaving as soon as possible and not returning for years. But first she had to make it off this porch. "Elena was my friend. I won't help you if you're going to hurt her."

A considering look, from beneath those lashes. "I could threaten your mother. She's vulnerable, soft and human. Do you think these two would defend her?"

Caroline felt ice run down her spine at his falsely considering tone. Setting her teeth, she curled her free hand into a fist. "Leave my mother out of this."

A curious curve of his mouth as he swung their clawed hands between them. "Why should I?"

"It's hard to get answers from the dead," she said softly. He stilled, as he took in her words, and she didn't know how to read his eyes. Something dark opened behind his gaze, a pit that nearly swallowed her.

"Be very careful, Caroline. I don't take threats well. And while I trust your sincerity, I'm quite willing to compel you to ensure it doesn't happen."

She yanked her hand loose, certain that he allowed it, throat dry and bones cold at the world compel. She'd learned how to use it, because she wanted to survive, but she still had nightmares. Caroline knew she'd given away a huge weakness, one Klaus could easily capitalize on. Instead, he clasped his hands together and merely studied her.

"No? Perhaps a different deal. I will ensure your mother's safety, for the duration of Elena's lifetime. But only if she is in my grasp. How does that sound?"

Damon lunged, but he'd barely cleared a foot when Klaus reached out and wrenched his neck. Dropping him, Klaus lifted his head and bared a double set of fangs at a white faced Stefan. "Shall I feed you his liver, Stefan? You're so much more entertaining when you lose these silly morals you cling too. Rabbits, I hear. It's quite boring. No? Then stay exactly where you are."

Caroline swallowed as he glanced at her.

"Where were we, love?"

"You were going to explain why you killed Elena the first time."

"Was I?"

"Yes."

Her fingers trembled, insides a tumble of knots, but bending now would be worse than attacking him. Finally he smiled, reaching out to delicately push a strand of loose hair behind her ear. "I broke a curse. One my mother put on me for a thousand years. Someday, perhaps, I'll tell you the entirety of the story, but Elena's death was not in vain. And it was also not permanent."

Caroline knew down to her bones, that giving up what information she had could be condemning Elena to something terrible. Her childhood friend was being hunted by a monster. She also knew the very best thing she could do for her mom was to take him up on his offer, and then try to disappear herself.

Stefan would never forgive her.

But she'd died for things she'd known nothing about. And the bitter, angry knot that had sat in her chest as her mom pointed a gun at her had never truly faded. That Klaus had suggested that it hadn't been Elena, but this Katerina who killed her, meant little to the loneliness and fear of the last six months.

"Aunt Jenna's family had a place in Colorado, it was her great-aunts," Caroline finally murmured, refusing to flinch at Stefan's snarl. "I'd start there."

His smile was a slow, satisfied thing with dimples and teeth. Caroline waited until his attention shifted to Stefan before she turned and tried to leave. Klaus hand caught her wrist, fingers gentle but unbreakable. She tugged, and frowned as he continued to hold her as Stefan disappeared.

"Let go."

"You'll find I don't take orders."

"Neither do I."

A laugh, and he released her. She refused to run, although the sudden silence left her jittery. "Where are you off to?"

"Away," she said simply.

Klaus hummed, stepped close. The easy way he held himself, fingers sliding back into her hair, had her pulse jumping. "You never answered my question."

"What question?"

"How many have you killed?" His eyes deliberately ran down her face and lingered on her lips. The tips of her fangs were nearly visible as she sucked in a breath and he made a low noise that did terrible things to insides. He sounded hungry.

"Two."

Klaus met her gaze, eyes curious. "Just two?"

She shrugged. "I don't like to kill when I eat. It's messy."

A slow blink, and his lips curved into something that spoke of torn sheets and blood. Fingertips still wet with Damon's blood brushed slowly against her lips. "I wonder, little vampire, how long that opinion will hold. I'll be seeing you, Caroline."

The heat of him and Damon's body were suddenly gone, leaving her inexplicably cold. She shivered, nipples tight behind her bra, the first stirrings of arousal leaving her skin prickling. Caroline had no idea if that had been a threat or a promise, but if she had her way, it would be years before she found out.


End file.
